July 31, 2008	Thursday	Rajab 27, 1429

KARACHI, July 30: The judge of a special banking court, Ghulam Hussain Mallah, on Wednesday again deferred the verdict on Hakim Ali Zardari’s acquittal plea till Aug 1 in a case pertaining to a fraud.

After recording final arguments from both sides on the application moved by Hakim Ali Zardari under Section 249-A of the Criminal Procedure Code, the court had reserved the order for July 25. However, the verdict was deferred till July 30.

The prosecution said that Hakim Ali Zardari had allegedly sold out shares of the Eastern Insurance Company in 1987 and told the company that the shares had been stolen. The company issued duplicate shares to him. However, an inquiry was conducted and the Federal Investigation Agency registered a case against him.

Hoarder jailed

The civil judge and judicial magistrate, west, Aurangzeb Shah, on Wednesday awarded three-year imprisonment to an accused since the court found him guilty of hoarding bags of wheat.

The prosecution said that the district food controller, Nazir Ahmed Memon, raided a flour mill in the Shershah area on March 19 and recovered around 8,000 bags of wheat illegally stored in the mill and arrested the accused Dawood Memon.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs10,000 and the accused would have to undergo an additional six months imprisonment in case of non-payment of the fine. The accused was charged under the Food Act.

Hearing adjourned

Judge Annand Ram Hotwani of the anti-terrorism court-III directed the investigation officer to produce the complainant in a kidnap for ransom case and adjourned the hearing till Aug 12.

Sajid, Shaukat, Jaffar, Amjad, Riaz and Ramzan are facing charges of kidnapping a student of the NED University of Engineering and Technology, Esha.

The accused had allegedly kidnapped Esha from Gulshan-i-Iqbal on June 24, 2007 and took her to Surjani Town. They demanded Rs0.5 million as ransom. The victim’s family informed the police who managed to arrest one of the suspects the very next day.During interrogations, the suspect told the police that his companions had kept Esha in a house in Surjani Town. Soon after the disclosure, police raided the house, arrested the accused and recovered the kidnapped girl.

A case (FIR No 60/2007) was registered at Mobina Town police station on a complaint of the victim’s father under Section 365-A/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act.

The accused were indicted on April 5, 2008. However, they pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.

The court had summoned the complainant. However, he did not appear on Wednesday. Adjourning the case hearing till August 2, the court directed the investigation officer to produce the complainant in court on the next hearing.

Accused cross-examined

Judge Abdul Ghafoor Memon of the ATC-II put off the hearing of a kidnap and murder case till Thursday after cross-examination of the accused, Abul Kalam, by the public prosecutor on Wednesday.

According to the prosecution, police found the body of a 21-year-old man near the Premier College from the limits of the North Nazimabad police station on February 14. Next day, the deceased was identified as Kamal, son of Abdul Haq. After initial investigations, the police arrested the accused on Feb 16.

The charge-sheet said that the deceased, Kamal, was said to be fond of the daughter of Abul Kalam and wanted to marry her. However, the girl’s family opposed the proposal. The accused along with his son, Abdul Razzaq, and a relative, Mahjil Hussain, killed Kamal and dumped the body near Premier College on Feb 13, it added.

Mahjil Hussain has been declared absconder in the case.

The prosecutor would cross-examine the co-accused, Abdul Razzaq, on Thursday.